Candy at the supermarket checkout proves hypocrisy

You bravely avoided all your guilty pleasures throughout the entire supermarket trip. No, you’re dutifully sticking to your list. No packs of stroopwafels, bags of crisps or bars of chocolate in your cart. Quite an achievement, considering 80% of supermarket products are ultra-processed (and therefore tempting). But then you reach the checkout. That bag of liquorice smiles at you. And that roll of Rolos: you simply have to have it. You don’t know how, but 10 seconds later you’ve paid for both. What’s going wrong here?!

Simple: the supermarket is out to make you buy as much as possible. They use sneaky tricks to do so. A delicious smell, leading brands at eye level, a strategic route through the supermarket… And candy at the checkout. That candy is designed to make you buy on impulse. You and your (young) children, that is. Because they are constantly targeted too. You’re waiting for your turn, getting a little bored, and the enticing packaging is staring at you. You managed to resist temptation throughout the entire supermarket trip and told your children not to pester you for candy, but now that you’re almost at the finish line… You give in after all.

Buy, buy, buy

Those impulse purchases at the checkout work precisely because they are unhealthy. Several studies have already been conducted into the effect of candy at the checkout. And what did they show? If you replace unhealthy products with healthy alternatives, sales drop by as much as 60%. That was shown by the results of a study at Vrije Universiteit. Another study showed that when there is no candy or snacks at the checkout at all, we make 17% fewer impulse purchases.

The studies are already a few years old, but the situation in supermarkets has still remained the same. At Albert Heijn, Jumbo, Plus… There are still sweets and snacks at the checkout. Only Dirk no longer does this. They felt—so a spokesperson once told RTL Nieuws—somehow responsible for these unhealthy impulse purchases. Lidl is doing better too; they have healthy snacks such as nuts and dried fruit.

Hypocrisy at its finest

Whichever way you look at it, supermarkets choose more profit—always. So they will continue using those sneaky tricks to encourage impulse purchases. Albert Heijn may present it nicely with their Foodfirst App and other talk, but if Albert Heijn really wants to do something about obesity in the Netherlands, they should start by removing Kinder Surprise eggs and Bounty bars from the checkout. Or use all their power and influence to lobby for the abolition of VAT on fruit and vegetables.

Resist temptation: you can do it

But of course, that would mean less profit. For now, then, that candy will remain at the checkout. What can you do? Build up some rock-solid resistance. Or use the self-checkout: there are fewer temptations there. You can do it. You can beat the system!

Also read:

• 10 supermarket annoyances: is yours on the list too?
• 10 cheap supermarket favourites
• 10 things supermarket customers find really annoying about checkout staff

Sources: RTL Nieuws, AD